Over four decades have passed since the original voyages of the starship Enterprise but Star Trek continues to journey on. Of course, there’s the official Star Trek continuity, last seen with 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness. However, a massive fan community surrounds the franchise and continues to churn out plenty of original work inspired by the adventures of Kirk, Spock, Picard, Data, et al. Here are just two recent examples…
First is Pixel Trek, a website that aims to create a pixel art version of the Enterprise D from Star Trek: The Next Generation that you can explore as a little pixellated Lieutenant Commander Data. I’m not sure how canonical it is, but it does seek to answer some important questions, such as “Where does the bridge crew go when they need a potty break?” and “Are there any staircases in the 24th century?” The project is still in its early stages — only a handful of the Enterprise’s decks have been mapped out so far — so more’s to come, but even now it’s an enjoyable and rather charming (in an 8-bit sort of way) diversion.
Second is Star Trek Continues, a fan-made series that aims to complete the original Enterprise’s travels. If you’ll recall your Star Trek broadcast history, the original series was only three seasons long, meaning that the final two years of the Enterprise’s original mission are unknown. Until now, that is. The first episodes are available now (watch the first episode below), and even a cursory look makes it obvious that the creators are obssessed with getting the details right. Everything looks exactly like the original series, right down to the color palettes. (And yes, that is MythBusters’ Grant Imahara as Mr. Sulu.) For a “behind the scenes” glimpse at this monument of nerdery, Wired is doing a series of short videos on the production.